The Grand Theft Auto Trilogy: Definitive Edition was launched last week, consisting of GTA III, GTA Vice City, and GTA San Andreas. However, almost immediately, the newly released remasters were taken off sale. Players were unable to use the Rockstar Games Launcher. While the Launcher was back up soon, the games were unavailable for a longer period.
- Data miners report that the reason for the games being unavailable was that they included in-code developer comments and some unlicensed music.
- The Hot Coffee files from the infamous sex minigame from San Andreas are allegedly in the game. Rockstar Games stated that the games were “unavailable to play or purchase as we remove files unintentionally included in these versions.”
The Rockstar Games Launcher is now online, but GTA: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is unavailable to play or purchase as we remove files unintentionally included in these versions. We're sorry for the disruption and hope to have correct ones up soon. https://t.co/NiMNXUKCVh
— Rockstar Support (@RockstarSupport) November 13, 2021
Now, the games are back on sale on all platforms after three days. All of the “unintentionally included” content in the game has been removed. This incident will prove to be an embarrassing one. It’s something that is strange for a big studio such as Rockstar Games; especially when it is related to its most famous franchise.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is again available through the Rockstar Games Launcher for play and purchase. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, and are working to improve and update overall performance as we move forward: https://t.co/hAfEKqYS3o
— Rockstar Support (@RockstarSupport) November 15, 2021
The issue might not end here. Rockstar could be looking at a legal problem in the future for sending out games with music tracks it had no licenses to. While it might not necessarily end up in a legal battle, Rockstar might have to do some mitigation beforehand.
“They (presumably) don’t have the right to distribute those songs. Now, the fact that you’d have to do some significant things to get them to operate might be [at] least a partial defense to a full legal claim, but what we are really talking about here is content holders getting upset before anyone goes to court. With respect to that circumstance, I think the publisher has every reason to be concerned.”
– Richard Hoeg, Hoeg Law via PCGamer
Moreover, this is not the only issue the release of the trilogy has faced. Poor quality, messy gameplay, and fuzzy features have fans in a not-so-satisfied state, especially when they were looking to re-experience some of their greatest memories of gaming.
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